The Associated Press has just picked up on the idea that girls with type 1 diabetes are tinkering with their insulin in order to lose weight.
It works this way: A young diabetic needs to lose weight fast. She remembers from her diabetes education that poorly controlled diabetes leads to weight loss. She withholds her insulin. Her blood sugar consequently goes up in the blood and spills out in the urine. As the sugar spills into the urine, so do the calories. Along with the sugar comes extra body fluid that compounds the quick weight loss.
This has the potential to kill children.
Despite the fact that the media has made this look like some sort of new eating disorder, pediatric endocrinologists have been dealing with this for years. Perhaps social networking has allowed for the easier dissemination of such stupid human tricks. One last thing: diabetorexia might be a more accurate label for this problem but somehow it isn’t quite as catchy.
Tip to Kevin, M.D.